There was a sense of irony to the situation.
In life, if he couldn't find his second daughter-on the rare occasions he actually wanted to-he was highly annoyed.
Never having much tolerance as far as Anna was concerned to begin with, he would feel very impatient and his temper would threaten to erupt like a volcano. Woe betide the little, sniveling brat if he finally found her.
The servants grew accustomed to looking the other way during her "discipline".
Especially if he applied the switch to her bottom. They were well trained to ignore her cries and screams for help.
Normally, it was only Elsa who would receive his worry and concern. But now that he was deceased, Agnarr's long repressed paternal feelings of love and care started to surface.
Ahtohallan was a bloody maze.
Where was Anna?
Even though they searched every noon and cranny of Ahtohallan, they couldn't find a single trace of her. It didn't help that Ahtohallan had countless caves to choose from.
"Where is she, Iduna?"
"I don't know." Iduna bit her lower lip in agitation. "She could be anywhere."
"Do you think she woke up?"
"No, Ahtohallan would have warned me if she did."
So far, they weren't having much luck in finding her. Agnarr knew that he had to atone for the numerous sins he committed against his daughters. He wasn't merely talking about imprisoning Elsa and neglecting Anna.
There was much that Iduna didn't know.
Agnarr inwardly flinched as he thought about the night she nearly died.
He never thought he would be capable of becoming a monster. But something in him snapped ever since Anna was born. He didn't see his daughter as an innocent baby.
He thought that SHE was the monster.
So he did everything he could think of to get rid of her.
But he knew he had to do it in a way that wouldn't be traced back to him. The servants and wet nurses he hired could be trusted to keep their mouths shut. All of them had the maternal instincts of a black widow spider.
So, they were perfect as far as he was concerned.
As a result, poor Anna was barely fed and bathed once a week.
Her nursery was kept freezing cold as he decreed that no fires were to be lit. Despite his best efforts, she survived despite her malnutrition and neglect. It all came to a head the night he nearly lost his wife.
Iduna was breathing rather poorly.
Her fever grew worse and she became paler than the moon.
Agnarr felt curiously detached as he approached Anna's nursery. He walked to her crib and glared down at her. To him, it was an insult, a slap to the face that she slept soundly.
While her mother could die at any moment.
It was almost like he was observing from a distance as he picked up the pillow.
Agnarr shuddered. If it wasn't for Kai announcing that Iduna would make it after all, he would have smothered his own daughter. No one would have been around to stop him.
Unless it was part of their schedule, the servants were ordered to keep away.
Elsa was also to be kept separate from her completely.
Agnarr remembered staring at his hands, horrified. It was true that he didn't care much for the baby. But she was still a human being. He never thought he would be capable of trying to snuff out an innocent little life in her sleep.
Like one would a candle.
Agnarr vowed that he would be a better father to the baby from that moment on.
He suppressed a rude snort.
It was easier said than done.
While Iduna would eventually make a complete recovery, it happened far too slowly for his liking. The difficult birth and subsequent childbed fever took a toll on his wife.
His resentment towards the baby grew.
Especially when his wife named her and wanted to bond with her.
Despite Agnarr's protests, Iduna insisted on proclaiming a grand holiday and an official christening for Anna. She was also insistent on letting Elsa see her baby sister.
Elsa kept on begging and pleading to see her.
Agnarr wanted to keep them separate.
In his opinion, Anna nearly killed her mother and he refused to let her hurt Elsa. But Iduna overruled his protests and let Elsa see the baby. For Elsa, she felt an instant bond with the baby and wanted to see her as often as possible.
Agnarr refused to see that even as a baby, Anna acted as a calming influence for Elsa.
He didn't see that his actions were wrong.
As Anna grew older, Agnarr would have odd dreams as well. Sometimes, he dreamed of a werewolf, preying on innocent and screaming humans as they ran for cover. Or he would see a vampire, pouncing on an innocent young woman, yanking back her head, exposing her neck.
He would even see a minotaur in a maze.
Chasing condemned prisoners or slaves.
Each monster was more horrific than the last. But the dreams would end the same: the monster would find themselves facing a mirror. But there wouldn't be a reflection of a vampire, werewolf or minotaur.
Instead, Agnarr would see his own face.
He would wake up, pale-faced and sweating.
Agnarr never told anyone about these dreams. He was still fearful of magic ever since what happened in the Enchanted Forest and he didn't want anyone to think that he was crazy.
It was only now that Agnarr could interpret his nightmares.
In life, all they did was confuse him.
One of the double-edged swords of death was the onset of clarity. Agnarr (belatedly) realized that Anna wasn't a monster. She was an innocent child who became a scapegoat for his misplaced anger, grief and bitterness.
In reality, HE was the monster.
Agnarr had to talk with her, to make amends.
"Come on." Agnarr said finally after a lengthy silence. "Let's try another cave."
Part of Kristoff wanted to grab Elsa and shake some sense into her.
But that would be a bad idea for several reasons.
First of all, she could easily blast him aside with her ice magic or freeze him from head to toe in a large block of aforementioned ice. Or she could summon the Elemental Spirits to restrain him in some way or just make his life miserable in general.
Gale could be especially persuaded if she was in a playful mood.
Nor was he keen on getting lit on fire by Bruni.
Another good reason was that he was marrying Anna in a matter of weeks. Common sense-not to mention good, old-fashioned prudence-dictated that he get along with her. She would soon become his sister-in-law. Anna would never forgive him if he got into an altercation with Elsa that irrevocably damaged their familial relationship. No matter how angry Anna or upset was with her.
At least she was finally considering the ramifications of everything Anna endured growing up. Why she couldn't suppress her feelings or "play pretend" anymore.
As she so eloquently put it yesterday.
Of course, Kristoff wasn't a saint either.
Granted, he never mistreated Anna. But he DID judge her for accepting the proposal of a man she just met. Not to mention their initial meeting wasn't exactly friendly or romantic.
However, Kristoff never considered what life was like for her growing up.
He thought that Anna had it easy, considering the fact that she was a princess.
But he was rapidly learning that nothing was what it seemed. Growing up under the aegis of the trolls was proof of that, a nasty voice whispered in the back of his mind.
Quickly, Kristoff pushed those thoughts away.
Now was not the time to think about the trolls and their twisted motives.
While Kristoff was a commoner and lost his parents at a young age, at least he knew he was loved. His father taught him everything he knew and he had the best mother in the world.
They were always there for him.
Anna, on the other hand, only had Elsa as a best friend and companion.
It was why she was so clingy and desperate to protect her. Her parents ignored her, as did the servants. The latter became especially true following the accident.
Anna was kept alone and isolated at the palace.
As a result, she never developed any people or social skills.
With Elsa pushing her away, Anna's only true friends were portraits and books. She grew up sheltered with no concept of the outside world. It was why she was so naïve and trusting. She never realized that people could have ulterior motives.
Hans being a prime example of this.
Kristoff knew that he had to make it up to Anna.
He wanted to show her how much he loved her, how much he appreciated her spunky personality and determined nature. It was so sad that Anna didn't see herself as anything much. Kristoff was bound and determined to prove that this simply wasn't true.
Everyone in Arendelle loved and admired her.
It would be up to him to show her just that.
Elsa was glad that Kristoff was giving her time and space to consider her next move.
She was reeling from what he told her.
Never did she imagine that Anna was hiding this much pain and doubt. She was just so bubbly, cheerful and happy-go-lucky, no one could ever imagine that she was suppressing her pain, anger and lack of self-esteem. Anna didn't see herself as anything much.
She told Kristoff just that to his face.
Elsa knew that Kristoff wouldn't lie, especially about something this serious.
The damage Anna suffered was worse than Elsa thought. Her thoughtless, angry responses to Anna's remarks didn't help. Elsa had reacted without thinking.
Her emotional blindness kicked in even as her walls and hackles were raised.
In a bid to protect herself from further hurt, Elsa lashed out.
It was a difficult thing to do, keeping herself contained. Elsa could feel her defenses crumbling and her control over her powers start to lessen. For the first time in years, her powers were reacting to her anger.
The only thing she did right was get the hell out of Dodge before she exploded.
But she knew she didn't react properly to what Anna was saying.
It was like she couldn't absorb Anna's words to process them correctly. Time and distance afforded perspective. True, their argument happened yesterday. But Elsa could finally think clearly now that she was whole. Now that she wasn't angry and hiding deep within an emotional cocoon of sorts to conceal herself from the outside world.
As she mentioned before, Anna's wounds ran deeper than she thought.
Elsa didn't like that Anna viewed herself as nothing.
True, Anna had become clingy and annoyingly protective in the Enchanted Forest. But she wasn't doing this out of malice. Anna loved her sister and wanted to make sure she was safe. It also wasn't like that Elsa herself was flawless.
Sending Anna and Olaf away in that canoe was a major mistake on her part.
But Anna never seemed to notice her good qualities.
Everyone in Arendelle thought she made for a wonderful queen. She was loving and caring and doted on all her subjects. She was brave and determined and could rise to seemingly face any crisis, like when she sacrificed herself to save Elsa or she lured the earth giants to the dam to destroy it.
It would take more than one chat to reconcile with her sister.
But Elsa was determined to succeed.
Anna came back to herself with a jolt.
She scrambled backwards from Hefnd's image, feeling her heart pound a mile a minute.
At last, she had an explanation for the misery that plagued Arendelle and her family as a whole. Hefnd-or a doppelganger of the poor woman-put a curse on Stoiske's line.
Stoiske and Brynjar started it all.
Anna realized that she had dreamt about the massacre of Hefnd's village.
She remembered feeling helpless, standing there amidst the chaos. She was unable to move, blink or breathe as Arendellian soldiers chased down and killed the hapless Northuldra.
She was far too young to realize what rape meant.
But her innocent mind was horrified as laughing soldiers would chase the females down.
The poor women were crying and struggling as their clothing was violently torn off. Men would be held down, forced to watch as the females, irregardless of age, were gangraped.
She would also witness as fleeing Northuldra were impaled from behind.
Some were strangled to death or had their throats slit.
But there was one woman who had it worse than the others. Anna always had a feeling that she was targeted by the soldiers. She was the last person to die.
They held her down, making her watch as her fellow villagers were slaughtered.
She was also forced to witness the violent gangrapes her daughters endured.
(Anna would learn later this was the midwife whom Stoiske blamed for his wife's death). The woman could do nothing as her daughters were hanged from a nearby tree.
As her husband was secured to a cross and slowly suffocated to death.
Due to crucifixion.
Finally, it was the woman's turn. Her name was Kari. First, she was forced to kneel as her hands were secured by ropes. The ropes were secured to nearby trees, forcing her arms apart. Then her shirt was violently ripped open in the back.
The smirking soldiers wanted to "soften her up" first.
They reveled in her screams of pain as she was whipped repeatedly by many soldiers.
Anna remembered feeling hatred for the first time in her life. Judging from the woman's expression, Kari was already broken and she wanted to die.
But the soldiers were clearly under orders to make her suffer first.
Soon, they grew bored of whipping her.
It truly was disgusting and beyond words what they did next. They tore off the rest of her clothing and secured her to an upraised board.
The soldiers violently raped her, one at a time.
The truly disturbing part was that the soldiers were talking and laughing.
It was as if they were at a party or function. They treated this like an everyday event. They traded gossip, bragged about their exploits and exchange crude, tasteless jokes. Anna wanted so badly to help the poor woman. But she couldn't move a muscle.
All she could do was watch.
Once the soldiers were done, they used all sorts of medieval torture devices on her.
At the end, the poor woman was bruised, bleeding and broken. Even the manner of her death was a traumatizing thing to witness. They secured her to a stake.
They watched, laughing and smirking, as she was burned alive.
Unfortunately, Anna would forget about this, due to Grand Pabbie's interference.
Feeling a grim determination that she never felt before, Anna approached the image of her impaled great-grandfather. She would recognize that face anywhere. She saw it more often than not in the portrait room as she grew.
Knowing what to expect, Anna pressed her hand to Stoiske's face.
The revelations couldn't have been more disturbing.
Anna learned about what her great-great-grandfather Brynjar planned. Stoiske was even helping with their vile plans for the Northuldra and the Enchanted Forest. She learned about what happened to her great-great-grandmother Asta and how Brynjar blamed the Northuldran midwife. With a start, she realized there was a reason that village was massacred.
The midwife, Kari, lived there.
It was why she was saved for last.
Anna also learned about Hefnd's curse, the doppelganger who took her place and some things about the entity that turned Grand Pabbie into a puppet.
She also learned why Runeard wanted to wipe out the Northuldra completely.
She wouldn't learn until later that Ahtohallan made sure she didn't see everything.
In other words, Anna wouldn't learn about the prophecies surrounding her and Elsa until she was ready. However, Anna learned about everything else.
At first, she thought she was seeing things because Ahtohallan allowed it.
But she was about to learn otherwise. "Anna."
She whirled around, startled.
"You."
It was the woman she first met in this dark void when she was five!